Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

We’re taking a short break this morning from the book of John to reflect upon our Reformational Heritage. October 31st, 1517 is the date that is typically pointed to as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, which is the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenburg Church door. That’s why the last Sunday in October is often referred to as Reformation Sunday.

Typically, we think of Luther in this grand act of defiance against the Roman Catholic Church, angrily nailing the 95 theses to the church door, but in actuality, the church door functioned like a community bulletin board. Luther wasn’t intending to start the Protestant Reformation as we know it today. Rather, he had set out to start a conversation particularly over the practice of indulgences in the Roman Catholic Church.

The simplest way to think of indulgences is as a “get a family member out hell free card.” Except, they weren’t free and they didn’t get your family members out of hell per se. Indulgences cost a considerable amount of money. And depending upon how much money you were willing to spend on indulgences, you could shorten your family member’s purgatory sentence. The Roman Catholic Church taught that purgatory was this intermediary place of torment that people would go if they didn’t quite make it to heaven, but weren’t bad enough for hell.

Indulgences were incredibly effective tool for raising money. Probably the most famous indulgence salesman was Johan Tutzel. And Tutzel would famously say, “"As soon as a coin in the coffer rings / the soul from purgatory springs." I think I mentioned this before, but the money that was raised by indulgences funded the construction of St. Peter’s Basicila in the Vatican.

And so the Roman Catholic Church built an entire theological system around two concepts that were unbiblical. There is no biblical grounding for indulgences or the state of purgatory and likewise, both preyed upon the ignorance and emotions of people. Keep in mind, literacy rates and access to God’s Word at this particular time were incredibly low, which obviously contributed biblical ignorance. People simply didn’t know and blindly trusted the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

How manipulative is it to say, “do you want your deceased family members to suffer in purgatory for 100 years or would you like to cut 75 years off of their sentence and thus give them tremendous relief by buying an indulgence?”

Not only were those teachings and practices incredibly manipulative, they were also godless. God was not at the center of indulgences or purgatory for that matter, people were. This is why our Reformational Heritage is such a gift. Men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli, didn’t initially set out to start something new, at first, they set out to fix what was broken in the Roman Catholic church and to recapture what was lost.

These men wanted to teach the biblical, gospel-centered, Christ exalting Christian faith.

And out of the Reformation came the five solas that helped articulate the main tenets of the Reformation: sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (glory to God alone).

It’s that last sola that I want us to focus our attention on this morning: to the glory of God alone. In many ways, it might be the most obvious one. For the Christian, that’s what your life should be all about: living to the glory of God.

And what I want us to think about this morning is quite simple: God states that he is worthy of all glory, therefore, you and I should believe that he is worthy of all glory. So, we’re going to try to answer three questions this morning: first, why does God need to be glorified? Second, why should we glorify him? And lastly, is it even possible to glorify him?

Why does God need to be glorified?

Throughout God’s Word, we’re told over and over again that God is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory. He deserves it. Why? Well, because as he tells Moses in the burning bush in Exodus 3, “I AM WHO I AM.” That’s where he reveals his covenant name to Moses.

On the surface, God’s covenant name might seem a little circular. Moses asks, who should say has sent me to the Egyptians? God tells him: “I AM WHO I AM.”

What gets translated as I AM WHO I AM is generally pronounced Yahweh. And one of the major reasons the Lord told Moses that his name was I AM WHO I AM was in order to impress upon Moses the sufficiency, majesty, and beauty of his character.

God’s character is perfect. The Lord is the embodiment of all the things that the shorter catechism says, infinite, holy, unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, justice, goodness, truth and love.

“I AM WHO I AM” is a shorthand expression for the absolute perfection of his character. So, that’s the first thing, we glorify God because of his perfect character.

Secondly, we glorify God for what he has done. Isn’t that a common theme that runs throughout the Psalms. How many Psalms specifically rehash what the Lord has done? Listen to the words of Psalm 77:11-15 again,

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. 15 You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.”

The Psalmist is encouraging all of us to reflect, remember, and praise God for what he’s done.

But the greatest thing that the Lord has done has come through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul speaks of Christ in 2 Corinthians 1 when he says, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

God deserves all glory because of what he has done for us in Christ. The Lord deserves all glory because he sent Christ to die on the cross and redeem people from their sins! It’s a glorious gospel, Amen?

But whenever you talk about God ascribing glory to himself you might get pushback. Doesn’t that make God egotistical or narcissistic? Fifteen years ago or so, Brad Pitt made headlines for making this exact point against the Christian faith. He was being interviewed about being raised Southern Baptist and made this statement:

“I didn’t understand this idea of a God who says, “You have to acknowledge me. You have to say that I’m the best, and then I’ll give you eternal happiness. If you won’t, then you don’t get it!” It seemed to be about ego. I can’t see God operating from ego, so it made no sense to me.”

Ironically, Brad Pitt stands in conflict with centuries people have thought of God not as egotistical or narcissistic, but as good.

But the most obvious point is that the sacrificial love that God displayed through Christ is the polar opposite of ego or narcissism. A God that takes on human flesh, and lays down his life for people is the apex of humility isn’t it?

God is good and worthy of all praise, honor, and glory.

Why should we glorify him?

So, you might be wondering, are you going to talk about the passage from 1 Corinthians 6 anytime soon? As a matter of fact, yes, I am!

I selected 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 for a reason I promise, even though it may not be immediately obvious. If you know the content of 1 Corinthians then you probably know the shocking report that the Apostle Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 5, that a man is engaged in a sexual relationship with his mother-in-law.

And so, it should come as no surprise that he follows that up in chapter 6 by encouraging the church in Corinth to flee from sexual immorality. At the end of 1 Corinthians 6, in the context of Paul encouraging the church to flee from sexual immorality, he says,

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

I selected these verses primarily because of what Paul said there at the end of verse 20, “So glorify God in your body.”

Again, he’s talking about fleeing from sexual immorality, but his rationale for fleeing from sexual immorality is by encouraging the church to reflect upon a positive command: “Glorify God in your body.”

This verse does closely parallel another verse that makes a similar point to what Paul says later in 1 Corinthians 10: "Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.” Again, it’s quite similar to our text in chapter 6: “Glorify God in your body.”

This principle is given in the context of sexual sin, but of course, it’s not exclusive to sexual sin. Because last time I checked, you and I have to take our bodies with us everywhere we go! After all we are both body and soul, but you can’t really divide them as we live here on earth.

The soul is immortal, and will live on after the body has died, but for now, they are inextricably connected. It’s not like there’s something that you can do for your soul that doesn’t include your body and vice versa! You can’t do something with your body that has no impact on your soul. The two are connected and how exactly the two coexist is above my pay grade.

Therefore, glorifying God in your body is a holistic thing. It’s not a light that you can switch on whenever you feel like it. Rather, it stays on no matter what. You’re either glorifying God or you’re not.

Which is why, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 are used as a Scripture proof text for Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 1: What is the chief end of man? Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Hopefully the point I’m trying to make is beginning to come into clearer focus. Even the men from the Westminster Assembly understood 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 to be laying down a much broader principle.

But I hope you see an important implication from 1 Corinthians 6: It’s not just that God rigidly demands to receive glory and it stops there. Because it doesn’t stop there.

We give God glory because he deserves it and that is of course, true! But Scripture indicates that it extends beyond that: You see, it is in our best interest, it is for our own good that we give God all the glory. Isn’t that the implication of 1 Corinthians 6?

Paul doesn’t simply say, “sexual sin is bad therefore don’t do it.” He could have said it, and it would have been true, but he gives a wonderful positive command. In other words, Paul says, don’t do that, but do this instead.

The point that the Apostle Paul is making to the church in Corinth is that glorifying God in their body is infinitely better than indulging their sinful sexual desires. Of course, that point is applicable to sinful sexual desires, but it’s not exclusive to it! It stretches far beyond it!

That’s one of the beauties of living for God’s glory - he calls you and me to something infinitely better! Because what is the alternative to living for God’s glory? Living for yourself and your own glory? It really goes without saying, but living for yourself and seeking the praise of men is nothing short of vain self-centeredness.

Isn’t that what Brad Pitt needed to hear? Is it really better when you seek your own glory or glorify someone else? And yet, it’s the pervasive mentality of our world!

It’s all about making more money, or the next experience, or gaining influence over others. People have done “good things” because they made money, or had interesting experiences, or had a positive influence over others, but if that is the goal in and of itself, it’s so incredibly empty isn’t it? It’s so vain and empty.

There’s no meat to living for yourself. But isn’t that the beauty of living for God’s glory? He calls you and me to something beyond ourselves. Living for the Lord is so much bigger, better, and beautiful than living for yourself.

And it’s when you glorify and enjoy God you’re able to see a life in Christ is where you find ultimate fulfillment, contentment, and inner peace. And yet, so many people believe that the money, influence, and experiences will bring them ultimate fulfillment, when in reality, it’s simply chasing smoke. The preacher in Ecclesiastes calls it vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2 says, “I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.”

Which is why the Shorter Catechism question one goes beyond glorifying God. It’s not:

“What is the chief end of man? To glorify God.” The answer is, “to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” In the presence of the living God is where you and I will find our ultimate satisfaction.

If you’ve seen the movie Footloose, you probably remember the basic plotline, but essentially the baptist preacher has made dancing illegal in their small town. So Kevin Bacon has to sneak into an abandoned factory to get his dance on. Kevin Bacon is like swinging from chains and what not in the movie. But the thing that sticks out in my mind is just how arbitrary the no dancing rule was. Something bad happened because kids were dancing one time, therefore, no dancing. And so, the preacher was just this massive killjoy.

But that’s not what Paul does in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Paul is saying, sexual sin is bad therefore don’t do it, but he’s not the arbitrary killjoy preacher from Footloose. Because what Paul says is “don’t fall into sexual sin because there is something better!”

Giving into the lie that the sins of this world are better than pursuing righteousness and living for his glory is like trading a dollar for a quarter. It doesn’t make sense! It’s always a losing proposition.

Is it even possible to glorify him?

The reality is, the joy that comes from pursuing God’s glory is always more enjoyable than the sinful pleasures of this world.

But how quickly do we fail to remember or see this truth? So often we all fall for the lie that the pleasures of this world are just as good, or perhaps better than the satisfaction that comes from living for the Lord.

It’s so easy to catch yourself asking, what’s the acceptable level of worldliness that I can maintain while still professing Christ? What’s the bare minimum level of glory that you find acceptable?

Maybe you’ve caught yourself falling into that mode of thinking as well. What a terrible way of thinking about your faith in Christ!

But what is that at its core? It’s a subtle denial of the goodness of God! We’re often led to believe that our lives, our goals, our dreams, our aspirations, are every bit as important and fulfilling as living for the Lord! And so often, we’re not really sure if living for him is actually worth it!

It goes even deeper than that. Because it indicates that we have a low view of our own sin and an even lower view of the graciousness of God. If you don’t think your sin is that bad, then it’s going to be very difficult to see how God’s grace is that good.

This mentality affects your view and understanding of the gospel!

It always comes back to the gospel, doesn’t it? Perhaps you picked up on it from our passage in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Look at it again with me.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

How does Paul spur on the Corinthians to glorify God? By telling them, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” And it’s because of that, “glorify God in your body.”

The reality is the gospel of Jesus Christ, his death, burial, and resurrection is what should spur all of us on to live God’s glory! The gospel compels us and of course, we’re better for it.

The moment you begin to diminish, neglect, or forget what Christ has done for you is the exact moment it seems living for God’s glory feels like scaling Mt. Everest.

“Glorify God in your body.” or “whether you eat or drink, do it all to God’s glory.” are all encompassing commands. They’re both commands that require your entire life.

It seems impossible doesn’t it? But again, notice what Paul says in verse 19: The Holy Spirit is in you! It’s what the prophet Zechariah records, “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit!” Paul is telling the Corinthians that glorifying God is not only the best thing for you, it’s achievable.

You can do it! By the power of the Holy Spirit along with consistently hearing and reminding yourself of the gospel, yes, you can glorify God. Why? Because he’s worth it. He deserves it. And it’s where you find fulfillment, happiness, and joy.

A life redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, living in humble reliance upon him for all things has been and will always be better than living for the world.

And so it’s with all of this in mind we come back to Westminster Shorter Catechism 1: What is man’s chief end? “To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” These aren’t nice theoretical words. They’re true. You can glorify God. And when that’s your aim you will find your highest satisfaction in this life through him.

Soli Deo gloria. Glory to God alone. Amen. Let’s pray together.